The HRCP is the flagship program of the Arroyo administration’s "Unlad Ani Program" charted to boost national effort to make the country become self-sufficient in rice at the soonest possible time.
Set into motion this wet season which started last month, the hybrid rice program is being spearheaded by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).
Formerly under the Department of Agriculture (DA), PhilRice was placed under the Office of the President last March by President Arroyo.
Corollarily, Presidential Adviser on Job Creation Luis Lorenzo Jr. was named chairman of the reconstituted PhilRice board of trustees (BOT). Current PhilRice executive director is Dr. Leocadio S. Sebastian.
The centerpiece of the Hybrid Rice Commercialization Program is PSB Rc72H, locally known as "Mestizo", a Philippine hybrid rice.
The variety was named after a river in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Since 1990, rice varieties suited to irrigated lowlands have been named after rivers and those that feel at home in the uplands after mountains.
"Mestizo" is soft when cooked, aromatic, and is comparable to or better in eating quality than the popular IR64.
First, what is hybrid rice?
A hybrid rice variety is the product of crossing two rice plants with superior qualities. These superior qualities of both parents are passed on to the seed and results in a phenomenon called "hybrid vigor" or "heterosis."
The young seedlings produce long roots and broad leaves that enable them to take up more nutrients and thus, produce more grains. These factors result in higher yield usually 15 percent or more than the high-yielding varieties of ordinary rice, also called "inbreds."
The highest yield obtained in trials during the 1998-1999 cropping seasons using "Mestizo" was 12 tons per hectare (240 cavans) in Cagayan and Bohol.
Teofilo Antonio of San Manuel, Isabela, the first to venture into a wide-scale commercial production of "Mestizo," averaged 150 cavans per hectare in his 30-ha farm. He netted P1.2 million (P40,000/ha) in one cropping season.
Luz Lozada of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, harvested 10.4 t/ha planting "Mestizo" in the dry season and 9.3 t/ha during the wet season in her five-hectare farm. She netted P41,000/ha.
At the start of the wet season last month, PhilRice began shipping seeds of "Mestizo" to seed distributors and dealers accredited by the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation (QUEDANCOR) and the 56 local governments participated in the Hybrid Rice Commercialization Program.
Farmers will just be using the recommended rate of 20 kilogram seeds per hectare to help attain the maximum potential of hybrid rice seeds. Farmers usually plant 80 kg or more seeds per hectare.
Initially, said Lorenzo at a recent media forum, the Hybrid Rice Commercialization Program will cover 45,000 hectares in 56 provinces. By the dry season (November) of 2004, some 300,000 hectares are expected to be planted to hybrid rice.
Of the 56 provinces, 25 are in Luzon-Kalinga, Apayao, Ifugao, Abra, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Tarlac, Pampanga, Aurora, Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Zambales, Bulacan, Laguna, Batangas, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, Albay and Camarines Sur.
The Visayas provinces to be involved are Iloilo, Aklan, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Bohol, Biliran, Leyte, and Southern Leyte.
To be covered in Mindanao are Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga City, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Sarangani, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.
Lorenzo said that the production of hybrid rice will not be burdensome to the farmers because the government, through QUEDANCOR, is providing credit support. The 20 kg seeds, which will be procured by farmers at the subsidized cost of P1,200 instead of P2,000, and the fertilizer and some chemical inputs will be paid by the farmers after harvest.
To help oversee the implementation of the program are provincial action teams composed of the governor, provincial agriculturist, provincial and district irrigation engineers, provincial seed coordinator, hybrid seed coordinator, chairman of Federation Irrigators Associations, provincial agrarian reform officer, provincial manager of the National Food Authority (NFA), selected municipal agriculturists, and the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI).
Further, agricultural technologists and rice specialists in the provinces trained by PhilRice and ATI will closely supervise the hybrid rice production. They will help ensure that farmers will be able to get high yields.
Developed in 1994 by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), "Mestizo" was released in the country in 1997 with the PhilRice-led Rice Varietal Improvement Group (RVIG).
Through PhilRice, the National Cooperative Test (NCT) on "Mestizo" was conducted in 10 technology demonstration sites nationwide for three years.
The variety was found to be prone to bacterial blight but results of the tests showed that "Mestizo" could yield an average of 6.3 t/ha with the use of only 20 kg/ha seeds.
With this, the RVIG recommended "Mestizo" to the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC), formerly Philippine Seed Board or PSB. After the NSIC, led by the DA-Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), analyzed the results of the NCT, "Mestizo" was released to the market as the second hybrid rice variety developed in the country.
The first hybrid rice developed in the Philippines was PSB RC26H or "Magat," which is specific to the Cagayan Valley; and PSB Rc76H or Panay.
Three more hybrid rice varieties are expected to be released next year. The private sector will also be releasing two hybrid rice varieties, PhilRice reported.